Save Them
by SnowStormInSummer
Summary: Cerelia was on holiday in San Francisco when the Simian Flu broke out. She lost her mother to it and then the borders closed, trapping her. Things seem hopeless, but then Cerelia is given a chance to save not only her life, but the entire world. Set just before and during Dawn of The Planet of The Apes.
1. On Holiday

**A/N: Hi! This is just to say that I do not own Dawn of The Planet of The Apes.**

It had been a good day. We had visited all the major tourist sites in San Francisco and eaten a very good dinner. Now we were sitting in the hotel room watching the news on the TV. I liked it here, but I also missed home. The newsreaders were going on about the Simian Flu again. There had only been a handful of cases so far, but it was getting worse. The cases were happening closer together and were killing quicker. People were starting to get very afraid.

I however, could not find it in myself to fear a microscopic organism. The three of us were alive and well, and we were on holiday! There was no need for sadness. We had another two weeks here! It was a long time to be in one city, but we had felt that we needed some time away from the house, and from London. It had been getting very monotonous there.

That night, my mother and father put me to bed, then retreated into their adjoining hotel room. I heard angry whispers coming from next door, and I ignored them for a while, but they got faster and more insistent, until I went to the door, intending to ask them to be quieter, as I was trying to sleep. When I arrived at the door, though, I heard what they were talking about and bit back my irritable request.

"Serena, I really think we should go," my father was saying.

"I told you, we wouldn't be able to get flights back at this short notice! Besides, we'd lose a lot of money," my mother retorted, "be sensible, Martin."

"I am being sensible, damn it! If we don't go now one of us could die!"

Those words frightened me, and I crept back to bed, and though I pulled the covers up around me, I shivered, and gooseflesh appeared on my arms. I had not been afraid of the Simian Flu before, but I was now.

The next morning my parents took me out for a walk through the city. We passed the Quarantined Zone, where the two hundred-odd people who had been infected here in San Francisco were kept. The world governments had been surprisingly efficient in setting up the Quarantined Zones in affected cities, but those were the only precautions they had taken. People talked about cures and vaccines, but no research had yet been commissioned.

I heard moans from the other side of the wall and wondered if we could be infected from here. We walked on for a while until we came to an entrance. Police officers in face masks and anti-contamination suits were dragging a girl no older than me towards it, while a woman fought against two more policemen, trying to reach the girl, who was presumably her daughter.

"Maya!" she cried out, and the girl twisted around, and yelled:

"Mum!"

It was pitiful to watch. Finally the police succeeded in dragging Maya through, and the doors shut behind them. The mother wailed, and when the policemen released her she ran towards us, pulling at my mother's arm.

"Please," my daughter is in there, she is only fourteen, she will not be able to fend for herself! Do something, you idiots, don't just stand there!"

I was fourteen too. It struck me that it was only by chance that I was on the outside, looking in, and Maya was trapped with the infected behind those high, menacing walls. If circumstances had been slightly different, I could have been thrown in the QZ, and Maya could have passively watched with her family.

The woman was pawing at my mother now, persistent and angry. My mother pushed her away forcefully, but she kept coming back. Suddenly she sneezed, and blood spattered my mother's face and arms.

I screamed, and the woman screamed, and police rushed forwards and pulled her back towards the QZ. I took my mother's hand and we ran, my father following behind us.

None of us spoke, but we all knew that my mother only had a few days now. She was infected, and soon we would lose her.


	2. Numb

**A/N: Hey guys! For those of you who were hoping for an ape appearance: be patient. They will turn up soon, I promise! Also I do not own Dawn of The Planet of The Apes.**

Dad tried to persuade Mum to hide from the authorities, begging her not to leave us, but she was adamant that she would not put us in danger of infection. We accompanied her back to the QZ entrance, and said very restrained goodbyes. She already looked very ill. It had not yet sunk in that we were to lose her forever. As she was escorted away, she turned back to look at us, and she looked so sad and so lonely that I began to cry.

And then she was gone.

For a moment I felt only sadness and helplessness and utter dejection, but then I felt anger begin to course through my veins.

Dad and I walked back to the hotel. We sat there in stony silence, watching the news. The USA had shut its borders, and no-one could enter or exit by air, sea or land. I was trapped in this sick, dying world, and I had lost my Mum.

Everything felt hopeless and stupid. What was the point in any of us trying, if it was the end of the world? We might as well all die now.

But no. The more I thought about it, the more I realised that the world wasn't ending at all. Our part in its story was ending, but it was arrogant to believe that it ended when we ended. The human chapter in the tale of Earth was nearing it's final page, but the narrative was barely a quarter of the way through the metaphorical book.

But that was not an ending, it was an opportunity for a new beginning. And I was no longer afraid of my death, or of my father's death, or any one else's. I no longer regretted my mother's death, nor the death of that woman and her young daughter. This was simply the way it had to be.

There was nothing now that I could do to prevent this, except try to help people. I thought for a moment, but nothing came to mind.

Then I looked up at the TV. The newsreader was saying that the President of America had commissioned research into a cure or vaccine for the Simian Flu, and the researchers were looking for volunteers to take part. It was dangerous, as it basically involved being experimented on and sometimes could even go as far as being deliberately infected with the virus to trial a new drug, but it would be a way to help people.

I looked from the TV to my Dad, and he looked with red-rimmed eyes from me to the TV. Then he nodded.


	3. Medical Research

**A/N: Hello! Once again, I do not own this franchise. If I did, this story would be a film. This is where it gets exciting! Maybe.**

Dad and I reported to the hospital the first thing the next morning. We were sat down and left alone for a long time, and then offered tea and biscuits by a nurse who was clearly stalling for time. Eventually we were led in to see a doctor and questioned extensively about our personal lives. Then we were left alone again for a long time, until a man came in to see us.

I doubted they would find a cure. Part of me almost hoped they wouldn't. But this was a way to help others. A way to make them feel that they were getting somewhere.

"Hello," the man said slightly nervously, "welcome to the Medical Research Centre, Mr and Miss Ray. We are willing to, umm...study you, Mr Ray, but I am afraid that as your daughter is a minor, we cannot allow her to take part in the experiments. however, as you are the only volunteers, we will give you accommodation here."

The only volunteers...the human race must be less altruistic than I thought.

It started off easily. Dad gave them spit samples, cheek smears, toenail clippings, bags of blood, and they studied them, and brought his DNA into contact with samples of the virus. I lived with him in hospital, and I regularly saw him walk past my room in a white hospital gown. Each day he looked more careworn and sad. I think Mum's loss was getting to him.

I stayed in a small room with a hospital bed, but it was not uncomfortable. There was a shelf of books and a TV, so I wasn't bored, and all my clothes had been brought from the hotel. But I missed London, and my friends. If the human race was going to die out, I wanted my life to end among people I cared about. The only person I had here was Dad, and he and I seemed to be growing more distant. He hardly ever looked in on me anymore.

It had been a long time since we had foolishly decided to go on holiday to San Francisco. Every day riots and lootings were on the News and there were reports of anarchy in the QZs. I just wanted to be home, and for none of this to have happened. Perhaps one day I would go home again. But it would never be the same. I could not turn back time and prevent all that had come to pass since we made that decision.

One day, after we had been staying at the hospital for almost a month, my father came to visit me in my room. He told me to sit on the bed, and then pulled up a chair and faced me.

"Cerelia," he began, "this will be hard for you, I know. But I need you to trust me. And I need you to be very brave. They've made a vaccine. And it works. They gave it to me and then exposed me to the virus, and I'm fine. I want to stay here and help them find a cure, but they need someone to distribute the vaccine. Will you do that, Reely?"

He hadn't called me Reely in a long time. I didn't want to do it - the streets of San Francisco were dangerous, and there could be riots. But this was my chance. My chance to help the human race.

To save them.


	4. The Riot

**A/N: Hello! Welcome back to Save Them. Sorry for the hiatus, it is a long saga of lost chargers and school. Why does school have to exist? Anyway, I don't own DOTPOTA and the apes will probably come in in chapter five. Sorry to those of you (myself included) who don't give a fig about the humans and have been waiting for apes since chapter one.**

It was my third day. I was rushing through the streets, pressing syringes into hands, crying out that I had the vaccine for the Simian Flu. I had been mobbed twice the previous day, but it had left no permanent damage. I was just glad to be doing something for my race. For the first time I was starting to believe we had a chance to survive.

I was passing the QZ when I heard shouts from within. I shuddered, but payed little heed to them. The infected were always rioting. Suddenly, though, the nearest entrance shattered and a hoarde of men, women and children rushed out. I screamed, and realised that I had stupidly not injected myself. I found my most visible vein, and, hoping for the best, plunged a syringe into it. It hurt like hell and I dropped the syringe to the ground. Nearby healthy people were screaming too, and I threw the syringes to them, shouting "vaccine!"

There was a mad scramble. I saw a girl in the rush of the infected, and I recognised her. It was Maya. How could she still be alive? The Flu killed within a week, at most. She slowed down and stared at me, as if she recognised my face. Then the crowd swept her up and she was gone. The infected were still coming though, and I was shocked at the sheer numbers of them. Suddenly, they began to veer towards me, bloodstained hands reaching out, and I was rooted to the spot. I heard a voice in my head. It was Mum.

"Run, Reely. For goodness' sake, just run!"

I ran. I ran for so long I lost track of where I was. My legs burned and a stich in my side made me feel like I was being stabbed with every breath. My hair was matted with sweat and my hands were clammy. Finally, I had to stop and rest my hands on my knees and pant like an athlete after a race. Every breath felt like an effort. I had never been asthmatic, but this was exactly like an attack. I knelt and vomited onto the pavement. I stood up, wiped my mouth and turned to look back at San Francisco.

There were fires everywhere. Miliatary Helicopters were flying in, and the crowds had gathered around the hospital, where Dad was. I looked back to the direction I had been heading in, and saw that I was just beside the entrance to the Golden Gate Bridge. I couldn't get back to Dad, not now. The steady drone of the choppers was getting louder, and sporadic bursts of gunfire were erupting throughout the city. I took a deep breath and headed onto the bridge.


	5. Blue Eyes

**A/N: Yes, it's the moment you have been waiting for since the beginning of the story - the apes! Which I don't own.**

I run over the bridge in the manner of someone possessed - in a completely straight line, lifting my feet higher than they need to be, keeping my hands clenched into fists at all times, staring straight ahead, muttering under my breath to "keep going, keep going".

Soon I leave the bridge behind and enter a large forest called Muir National Park. The sun is bright through the trees, and the sounds of anarchy from the city are much fainter here. It feels almost peaceful.

I walk on, since returning to the city is obviously not possible. I try not to think about what might be happening to Dad, or about where I will sleep and what I will eat tonight. I am starting to realise that I don't want to die. I am going to go out kicking and screaming. Because maybe there is something after this, maybe I will find peace and eternal joy somewhere. But it is also possible that this life is all I get, and I don't feel that I have had enough time to experience it.

Suddenly, a twig cracks behind me. Very slowly, I turn around and am confronted by a very strange sight. It is a large male chimpanzee, with big blue eyes. He looks inquisitive and a little playful, but not threatening. I approach slowly, as any company, even an ape's, is better than being alone.

He sits there, watching me, and then I stop suddenly, worried I might be provoking him in some way. So I sit myself on the ground and wait to see what he will do. He ambles over and starts running his hands through my hair, and I giggle as I realise he must have never seen hair so long before.

"I'm Cerelia," I tell him, more out of hatred for the silence of this place than out of a wish that he could understand me, "I wonder if you have a name."

He stops playing with my hair and moves around to face me, then points to his eyes. The action seems so intelligent that it scares me a little. I decide to play along.

"So you're Blue Eyes?" I ask. He nods emphatically and jumps up and down, quietly whooping with excitement, then he points at me and then at the ground, then at himself and off to the right. I nod resignedly. It has been a strange day, why not an intelligent monkey to round it all off?

Blue Eyes races off, and I sit down and put my head in my hands, and try not to think about my parents. About half an hour later, Blue Eyes returns with another ape, about his size, but paler than him. They converse in jabbers and - it looks like _sign language, _until eventually they approach me and take hold of one of my hands each. Their grip is firm, but not painful, and I get to my feet.

Wherever they are leading me, there is probably food, and I am getting very hungry.


	6. The Colony of Apes

**A/N: I am soooooooo sorry. I have absolutely no excuse for this massive, unannounced hiatus, and I will understand if you can never forgive me. I got a bit caught up with my other fanfictions. If you are going to write a series, NEVER write any other fanfictions at the same time. Because it is impossible.**

Blue Eyes and his friend lead me to a large archway. It is misty here, and damp, because we are on very high land. The arch is made from tree branches, stripped of their leaves and tied together with twine. As we walk in, a gorilla jumps out from the shadows with a snarl. I gasp and back away, but my two guides seem unperturbed, and jabber away to him, making expansive hand gestures. Eventually the ape grunts and we start moving again, but he accompanies us.

As we travel through what seems to be a camp of treehouses, more and more apes of various sub-species appear. By the time we enter a large empty space at the centre of this strange settlement, there are at least fifty apes surrounding me. Eventually three apes appear on a raised edge of rock opposite us. In the centre is a large chimpanzee who seems to be the leader. On his left is a heavily scarred bonobo who fixes me with a glare that makes me feel cold, and on the other side of him is an elderly, kind-looking orangutan.

This is becoming odder and odder. These apes seem organised, almost civilised!

Then the leader steps down off the platform and comes right up to me. We are inches away and I am terrified. He is so big and powerful, he could easily kill me. Then the impossible happens. He speaks.

"Why...are you here, human?" he asks, slowly and deliberately. My mouth falls open. I stare at him in silence for a moment, until he bellows:

"Answer me!"

Flustered, I blabber about running from the virus and losing my parents. He seems wary, but does not attack me.

"Tonight, you stay with Blue Eyes. Tomorrow, apes decide what do with you."

I nod wordlessly,and the ape whose name I correctly guessed tugs on my arm and pulls me to his treehouse. He points to a pile of leaves in the corner, and then goes and lies down in the other side, watching the sun set out of a slit window. I curl up in the damp leaves, and fall asleep from sheer exhaustion.


End file.
